Be Here
by OprahGirl
Summary: Roxas was kidnapped while being out on the streets all alone. He was taken to a dungeon, where he was tortured. How will he get out? What will become of him?
1. Torture

So I decided to try to write a story, originating from two songs. I thought it would be kind of fun and it would stretch my limits. The songs' names shall be disclosed later.

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Screams echoed throughout the dungeon, loud and clear. They pierced through the surrounding cement walls, shattering the hearts of the people that surrounded.

The shrieks were awful, resonating off of those cursed gray walls that the person couldn't see because of the blood-red mask that covered their face.

"N-no…stop, please—" the voice was small, almost inaudible, for fear of being tortured to an even further extent, before choking off in pain.

The tormenter smiled a ghost of a smile at the fruitless act, and ignored it. He kept at his given task, electrocuting the other's body – mainly around the genitalia and torso. Apparently, that's where the person was most sensitive.

The handheld device was handy, the torturer admitted, even if he didn't particularly enjoy harming others to this extent. But he had to, because of his orders to break this person in front of him.

The boy was currently struggling against the tormenter's action of taking his clothes off. He was merely making it harder for himself, and it caused him more pain, but he wanted _out_ of this place that he couldn't see in, wanted to keep his virgin body to himself.

"Say your name again," the older purred. "Maybe I'll lessen the pain a little bit."

The boy was struggling too hard to even notice the torturer had spoken. The older man's mood dropped a little, and he continued to slip the boy's clothes off, one by one.

First came his shirt, with its adorable little checkered pattern visible in the dim light. Then came his black layer underneath, neatly sliced off with a knife. And then his pants were the only things left. The torturer hesitated a little, knowing that this was what the victim struggled most against, but a voice coming from his ear bud told him, for the second time, to take everything off, to put the boy in his deepest shame.

Luckily for the boy, the owner of the ear-bud-voice was unable to see anything, what with there being a lack of cameras. The young man complied with the voice and took everything off.

Unluckily for the boy, his wrists and ankles were chained to the wall, so he was unable to cover himself when his last article of clothing slithered to the cold ground.

"Come on, kid. Tell me your name again. But this time, it'll be only for me to hear. No pink-haired men and mad scientists to hear you this time," the red-haired repeated. "Like I said, I might tone it down a little."

Tears were streaming down the boy's face, and they plopped out underneath the mask, making little plinking noises when they dropped. His breath could be heard, little shaky gasps, catching every few seconds, as his chest leaned out over the rest of his body, his arms still being pulled behind him. His head hung, blonde, unruly hair showing. He was going to be broken, and nothing could be done about it. He was going to be electrocuted and raped and whatever else they had planned for him.

It was his fault for being out alone on the streets at night. There was no one to help him when he screamed. He should have known he would have been kidnapped like this.

The red-haired youth's eyebrows knotted together momentarily, but he had to get rid of these feelings. If Vexen and Marluxia knew he wasn't hurting the kid as much as he was supposed to, someone else was going to take over in his place, and possibly kill him. But then again, maybe killing the boy would have been a good thing.

After about half a minute, the boy's crying ceased a little and he was able to speak. "R-Roxas."

"That's a good kid… I'm sorry, Roxas." He rolled the name on his tongue, and decided he liked it.

With that, he turned on his handheld weapon and winced slightly, imagining the pain the kid was about to go through. He leaned forward and zapped his chest. Roxas flinched, taking in a sharp breath and his back went straight. The red-haired kept the electrocuting weapon in contact with the boy's skin, and dragged it down to his crotch.

He felt very guilty for having to do that. Roxas cried out, doubling over in pain as far as he could go, but he couldn't do anything about the incessant pain that wracked through his now-fragile body. He continued screaming, the sounds bouncing back and forth across the walls, and it penetrated the older boy.

The tormenter took off the taser-like weapon after what seemed to be an eternity to Roxas, and he slumped against the wall, uncaring of its temperature. He was in too much pain to care, his every nerve screaming at him, and he blacked out.

----------

Even though Roxas was in obvious pain even in his unconscious state, his naked form turned the red-haired boy on.

He kept watch, still inside of the dungeon cell, his eyes following the labored breaths the boy took. He was so innocent…. Why did this have to happen to him? He could tell that he was a virgin. But he would be one no more, at least soon, according to his bosses.

He looked in the mirrors that were hung, a total of 3 mirrors. Each of them had their own wall, about 3 meters wide and 3 feet tall. The only wall without a mirror was the one with chains – the one that Roxas was leaning on. For a few seconds, he occupied himself with looking at his reflection, his green eyes looking at his upside-down triangles that graced his cheeks.

He realized he was still holding the weapon, and he hastily put it down.

Time passed.

He sat there, staring at the boy.

Roxas kept breathing jerkily, but it seemed to be slowing down and evening out a little at a time.

His legs were open, and no one else was around, so the red-haired was free to stare.

Finally, he got tired of just sitting there and got up with a sigh and walked slowly over to the young form in front of him. He guessed the boy was about five or so years younger than he was.

He sat down again, but this time he was right next to the boy's naked body. He, of course, was still free to look all he wanted, but he'd have time for that later, and at that moment he didn't care so much.

The chains were relatively loose – he'd seen worse with other victims. They were loose enough, at least, for him to be able to put one hand under each of his knees and pull them outwards so that he was in more of a comfortable sitting position, but his knees were still bent. The thing about those chains, though, was that they were heavier than the others he'd seen.

His bosses must have been more considerate towards the young boy.

Roxas's head was looking uncomfortable against the hard wall, so the older boy let the younger use his shoulder as a resting place.

He sighed again, and waited until Roxas woke up.

----------

After a few hours, Roxas finally stirred, and his evened-out breathing picked up again as his half-conscious form took inventory of his pain.

His mask had slipped a little as he had fitfully slept, enough for him to be able to peer out over the top and look at his surrounding cell.

The first thing he noticed were the mirrors. There were three of them, so it seemed as if the room was bigger than it actually was. From where he sat, he couldn't see any lasting injuries, but he still felt the sting from the stupid electrocuting weapon.

As he thought bitterly about the pain that was inflicted upon him and how he would love to kill the person who did that to him, he realized his head was leaning on something, the smell of leather sort of there.

He cautiously lifted his head up and looked at the person there.

Red hair. Beautiful face. Little triangle-ly tattoos on his face. A black, long leather coat (so that's where the leather smell came from). And most importantly, he was sleeping.

And that was when Roxas realized that he was totally naked, and he panicked. Was this person the one that tortured him? No, that wasn't possible. This person was too handsome and angelic for that. Well, it was possible, just unlikely. And would someone sleep next to his victim? Not likely. It didn't sound mean enough.

Roxas came to the conclusion that this person was not the same as the one that tortured him. But that didn't help his naked-ness in any way. He was still not wearing any clothes. Thinking about being clothes didn't make them magically appear, but nothing could be done, for his clothes were in the middle of the room, relatively far away, and he couldn't reach them.

Great. So he was stuck to being vulnerable and naked.

He wasn't fat or anything – quite the contrary. He was skinny and well-toned, but it was just the feeling of being unprotected, un-separated, that wasn't boding too well.

Anyone could basically walk in and do as they pleased when he was like that.

Roxas was hungry, and it was getting harder to breathe, the mask being over his face and all. He turned his head again to look at the older boy next to him, a few years older. Well, he wasn't a boy, but he wasn't old, either.

He watched his chest rise and fall with each breath, the leather dully shining in the bad lighting.

In a few minutes, the strangely-haired other began to become a little more restless, a sure sign of waking up soon.

Roxas almost damned his luck, before remembering he wouldn't have been able to get out anyway, what with the chains and not even knowing where he was. So he just kept watching the man wake up.

His eyes fluttered a bit, before muttering, "shit," realizing what he had been doing during his job. His eyes opened all the way, and Roxas saw them to be startlingly green eyes, as bright as emerald.

His gaze was immediately directed to the boy, staring curiously over his mask. "Shit," he said again, once he realized the mask wasn't on properly. He checked his digital watch, numbers glowing red, and decided it was about time Roxas should have eaten. "I'll be back, kid." He dismissed himself, dragging up his body to get some food for the both of them.

----------

_That man…he really was kind of hot_, Roxas admitted, even though he wasn't gay. Well, he didn't really know what sexuality he preferred, because he hadn't felt attracted to anyone else before. But he still considered himself to be straight.

He watched the man's ass walk out of the room after he had put in some special-looking key to open the door. That man seemed decent, if he said so himself.

He realized that the man hadn't fixed his mask, which made him think even more he wasn't the same man that had tortured him the night before (at least, he thought it was the night before, but what did he know?). Too bad that he wouldn't be able to remember what the voice sounded like, anyway. He hadn't been trying to remember it, being focused on the pain, and it was too low to actually identify.

He was just beginning to wonder where the man had went, why, and for how long, when he came back in and quietly closed the door.

Soon, the aroma of soup and freshly-baked bread wafted over. He heard the sloshing of water inside of a cup. It was too much, and his mouth began to feel parched with want.

The man carefully walked over, balancing the food in a couple of plastic trays.

"Here." He held up the cup of water to the boy's lips and he began to sip at it, making sure there didn't seem to be poisoning, before drinking it normally.

"Your name's Roxas, right?" The man asked, as he put down the cup after it was empty.

Roxas cleared his throat to make sure it still worked, after all of the screaming the night(?) before. "Roxas. Ummm…what's yours?"

"The name's Axel. Got it memorized?" Axel smiled crookedly and tapped the side of his head as he said it. Then he sighed. Feeding someone else wasn't exactly something he wanted to do all day. "Here. You feed yourself."

Roxas watched in amazement as Axel fished in a hidden pocket in his coat, and took out a key to unlock one of his wrists (his left one – he assumed the kid was right-handed) and released it of the heavy manacles. Did he trust him that much?

Roxas took the time to stretch, because it was getting sore from being hung for so long, and let his blood rush back to the tip of his fingertips before tentatively reaching for the food that was next to him.

Axel turned around slightly, enough so it seemed that he wasn't staring, and looked at the door instead. He exhaled, and took up his own food and quietly ate. Xaldin, the cook, was pretty damn good. He could live off of that guy's food. But Xaldin was kind of intimidating, with his apron and big cutting knife…and dreadlocks. They reminded him of snakes sometimes…

But anyway, enough about The Great Cook Xaldy (which rhymes with "baldy" but that obviously wasn't the case with Xaldin).

He had to get back to the matter at hand, which was currently the job of torturing this poor, innocent, virgin kid. How was he going to do that, when it hurt him inside to see the boy suffer? And he was the one making Roxas suffer, no less.

He had turned around absentmindedly, staring off into space in the boy's direction. He vaguely noted that he had finished eating and was sitting there, not knowing what else to do.

He looked up and caught Axel's eyes, which were still spacing out, and furiously blushed and tried to cover himself. Axel shook himself mentally and actually focused on what was happening, which were the kid's futile attempt at not seeming _as_ naked. Didn't help much, though.

For the second time that day, Axel's arousal went up, but this time, Roxas could kind of see it. However, he was so innocent he didn't really understand what kind of expression that the older man wore.

Axel turned away and pushed the stupid feeling down. It wouldn't do for him to get attached to the kid.

After all, there was surely worse to come for him.

* * *

A/N- So I have no idea where this is going, at all. Haha, i'll need some help on that. Or maybe I'll just go with the flow and write. But I have a feeling that will make it a dreadfully long story.

So, my first AkuRoku fanfic! I'll try to keep it at this length. What did you think?

...I got the idea for this chapter on TV. The torturing part, I mean. It was on 60 Minutes, which I never watch.

And I have no idea how it got its title, so I guess I'll just have to work on incorporating the title in later.


	2. Impurity

Sorry it took so long. Distractions…. are distracting. And I honestly had no idea what to write about next. Thanks, Xiggy, for giving me an idea. I will use your idea sometime.

Had to get inspiration, which sure didn't come easily.

Lol it's embarrassing to write the… more interesting scenes. I keep stalling when I get to those points. . I'm sorry it takes SO long to update. D:

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The mask was eventually fixed onto place once more, after the boy had fallen asleep for a few hours, still drained from the previous experience. Axel put his own mask of sorts on, only leaving his bright green eyes to be seen by others.

His coat flapped around his ankles and black leather boots as he paced, unwilling to yet again harm the kid. How old was he again? Seventeen? If he remembered correctly, he was about to have his birthday in a week or so. What a great way to turn eighteen – being tortured probably wasn't the way he had expected to celebrate.

Okay, he had to do it while the boy was asleep, or it would be hard to get him where he wanted the younger to be. Roxas was still in an undressed state, so it would make the process be that much easier. Still wouldn't be a piece of cake, though.

Axel really hated hurting others to this extent, especially repeatedly. After all, what did the kid to do deserve this? Axel didn't know and didn't have quite the right amount of guts to ask Flower Boy and Mr. Bill Nye the Science Guy. They would probably turn him into one of their wretched experiments or something if he brought up the subject with them. No way was he going to let himself go through that.

Okay. First things first, Axel had to turn around the boy to be facing him. Luckily, the bosses had thought of that before taking Roxas into their "care."

At the ceiling, there was a sort of rotating, sliding contraption that allowed the prisoner to be moved along the metal track. The track was a simple straight line that crossed from the center of one end of the ceiling to the left of the door that led to the outside… wherever that was. The contraption also could rotate in a full circle, forcing the chains to twist and making the victim turn with them.

Of course, this certain type of pain would require the boy to be a little farther from the wall.

Breathing on and lightly rubbing his gloves together to make them warmer so as not to wake up the boy, he grabbed the other's hips and pulled gently, dragging him across the unforgiving floor about 4 feet closer to the middle of the dungeon-room. (Axel didn't really know what to call it; "dungeon" sounded too medieval.)

Roxas still was asleep enough for it to work. "It" being the awful plan that was made especially for him. Axel took a spreader bar out from the corner of the room, which had been transported almost immediately after Axel notified Marluxia and Vexen of his falling asleep.

It was the right length, so the redhead didn't have to bother with it too much. All he had to do was quietly snap the ankle cuffs, tighten them enough so they wouldn't chafe against the skin too much, and lock it with a key with a strange, double-sided, yellow handle. It took all but two minutes.

For a moment, Axel hesitated and thought to himself, _I wish I could be who I wanted to be. Not someone who was molded to comply to others' will, forced to hurt others like this. If it were my choice, I would be doing Roxas at my own place, thank you very much._

A brief crackling in his ear signaled that one of his stupid bosses would instruct him to do something, and tore him out of his ephemeral thoughts. "Have you started yet, my little pyro?" The voice definitely belonged to the pink-haired insensitive idiot.

Green eyes flashed in the dim light as he picked up his specially-made pager, just for his "job," and typed that he was getting ready.

He pressed the correct button and the message was transmitted almost instantaneously. He waited a moment, and then heard a chuckle. "All right. Tell us how our little precious fares when you're done with him tonight."

The quiet fuzzy background noise was silenced as the one-way line went dead.

He turned back around to face Roxas's bare back and made sure that both locks were secure. He then trudged back to the same corner he had gotten the bar from, and retrieved a collar with blunt silver spikes at the end. Vexen had taken the time to emphasize that the spikes were made of real silver, and if someone messed them up, that person wouldn't be eating that day. After all, the collar had been custom-made to perfection.

The spikes seemed to have been expertly super-glued to the black leather (black leather seemed to be the recurring theme in the vicinity) and Axel leaned forward a bit, reaching around the boy's neck and snapping the end in place. He then secured a leash (Jesus, what was with all the black leather?) and tied it to one of the large chains near the top. There was a muzzle-like part that attached to the collar, and he guessed that it was to put around the head so the victim's face wouldn't turn scary colors and fall off or something like that.

Axel stepped back a bit, and screwed up his face a little, noting that would be one hell of an uncomfortable thing to wear.

Roxas was beginning to struggle awake, but couldn't move from the awkward position he was in. He quickly was roused from his sleep as he realized he was naked with a bar spreading his feet apart, he couldn't see, and he was bent over, completely exposing his ass to his torturer. He whimpered quietly enough so that his tormenter wouldn't hear and hurt him even more.

He had a feeling that today he was going to lose his innocence that he had tried so hard to keep from predators out on the streets.

And he couldn't do a fucking thing about it.

Axel walked over, his boots lightly clacking against the concrete as he meandered over to Roxas's form. He bent over the body and shaped himself to the victim. He reached out and dragged his leather-clad hands over his toned stomach, abs, ribs, and stopped at his nipples. He circled them a few times and pinched and pulled, feeling them harden. He smirked at the thought that the younger was becoming turned on.

He slid off the boy's body and clamped his teeth on his right glove fingertips and pulled his head away from his hands, efficiently removing his glove, and proceeded to do the same with his left. He sucked on his forefingers and went directly behind once more the boy's body, and ran his hands up and down his stomach and abdomen, quivering when he touched certain spots, tensing when he went lower and lower, rubbing Roxas's groin.

It was beginning to become hard to contain his amounting excitement and he slipped off his pants ever so slightly, still touching Roxas.

He began to center his hands and finally reached the boy's quivering length.

Roxas would have put down his head in shame and embarrassment at the good feeling if it wouldn't have hurt so much because of the collar and leash. Instead, he slightly arched his back and turned his head to the right, his face flushing.

After all, he hadn't even touched himself before. This was going to be a time of a lot of firsts in that respect, and he almost regretted it. It would just make it all the more humiliating.

Axel could almost sense the kid's thoughts and began to run his hands up and down the boy's length. After all, Axel didn't need any preparing himself, seeing that he was so far gone, he was already fully upright and his body was shaking slightly with anticipation.

He couldn't help it. That ass, that perfect body, the obvious unwillingness….

The red-head started to move his hand faster, still pressed against Roxas's leaned-over body in an obvious spooning position. Roxas mewled and melted into the touch. It felt good, like nothing he felt before, but his innocence… It was quickly slipping away. So, so quickly. He pressed his ears back and shuddered, whimpering louder, as he came.

"Did you enjoy that, you little slut? Heh, of course, that's only the beginning, my little kitten. Be prepared. Yell as loud as you want; no one's going to come to your rescue." As he finished speaking, he probed inside Roxas's ass, making the boy stiffen and try to rear his head. But he knew it was futile. It was really going to happen.

Damn this low-voiced stranger. He'd kill him one day, murder him, with delight. He wanted that other person, the one who'd cared for him the other day. What was his name again?

He wasn't able to think anymore as Axel entered another digit, never stopping. And another. But then, the assault stopped, and Roxas was afraid to know why. It had hurt like hell, the feeling of leather chafing against skin.

Apparently Axel had noticed this too, and took out of his front pocket a little bottle of lubrication, quickly squirted the stuff onto his fingers, and spread it around Roxas's anus, starting out fairly wide but coming closer with every circle.

And so, the assault started again, more vicious this time. The boy began to pant and tears rolled down his face. He didn't want this. It wasn't fair. He didn't deserve it.

To what seemed like an eternity to Roxas, the fingers pulled out of him. Finally, he felt relief. That was all, right? He was done for today.

Or not. He felt something much bigger enter, and he cried out.

Axel grinned, beginning to feel more satisfied. He could go as long as he wanted, without interruptions. The fit was tight, and the clenched, unwilling ass just heightened the sensation for Axel.

He went at it for a while, before feeling his blood pump harder, his adrenaline suddenly racing. Hearing the sounds of skin pounding against skin just made him more turned on, and he came inside the boy, gasping for breath.

It was almost too much for Roxas. His eyes were at half-mast, struggling to stay conscious. He won, but only just. He was empty. His mind and body alike tried to reject the enjoyment, the fact that he had been raped. His virginity was gone, his purity along with it. He opened his eyes, but the dim light reflecting off of them didn't make them come alive as it should have; they were dull, as if there wasn't any light at all.

Axel, still basking in the aftermath of the intercourse, didn't notice that Roxas had stopped struggling. The boy rejected the feeling of white slowly dripping down his thighs onto the concrete, the feeling of being ever-exposed. It was as if he wasn't there.

As if, at least temporarily, his soul had left.

* * *

A little shorter than before, but… It was all one scene. And I don't know how to go on after this. Any ideas? I think I got a little idea of plot, though. Maybe.

Reviews will be greatly appreciated, and will (most likely) spur me to write.

I do like the ending, though. Strangely enough.

I realized, after re-reading this, that there is virtually almost no dialogue in it. But I _highly_ doubt it's going to stay like this.


	3. True

Hey, guys! I tried to get this chapter out sooner… hehe… Okay so not really. I have a very distracting life. And work and the internet gets in the way. Sorry… forgive me?

* * *

_The doorbell buzzed, an annoying sound, but no one felt like changing it to something easier on the ears. People could be lazy, you know? Even 17-year-old kids whose birthday was about to come and go in a few weeks. It wasn't fun being responsible _all _the time._

_The youth turned around, looking at the expensive flat-screen monitor on his wall above his bed. The monitor showed most of the rooms in the house, and he tapped the touch-screen to change the camera to the front door. It was Kairi and Sora, two of his closest friends. Except Sora had gone out with Kairi a few hours ago to do something that the other wasn't allowed to know._

_Apparently, he had forgotten his keys… again. Roxas rolled his eyes. He pressed a button on the screen, and said, "I can't believe I have to do this for you every time you go out." _

_He laughed at Sora's pouting face, defending himself, staring directly at the hidden camera. "It's not _every _time, Roxas. It's only 49/50 of the time. I remember it once every few months, you know."_

"_More like once a year."_

"_Come on, you're not mean enough to lock us out again? Your brother and your friend? That's so cruel, Roxas." _

_Kairi looked over at Sora and snorted. "Don't you dare blame me again like last time. It's your freaking house, not mine."_

_Roxas gave in and pressed another button, graciously letting them in. He touched the screen again, following the two of them with his eyes through each room, listening to their bickering. _

"_I am not PMSing, Sora! I had my freaking period two weeks ago! It would be impossible!"_

"_Yeah, as impossible as a dog eating crap."_

"_Dogs do eat crap, thank you very much! What I want to know is, where did you go to school? I didn't even know it was possible to be so stupid!"_

"_I went to the same school as you did, Kairi. Now who has the bad memory?"_

_The two of them shoved the door out of the way, still facing each other and arguing._

_Roxas kept laughing at their antics and went, "I think it's gotta be contagious," which shut their mouths as they turned their heads to stare at Roxas._

"_What's contagious, Roxas? Did you get sick while we were gone?" Kairi worried._

"_No, you germaphobe. I'm not sick. Your weirdness is the thing that's contagious."_

_Sora looked mildly outraged. "I am not weird! You're weirder than I am, having an obsession with people's hair! Stupid fetish!"_

_Kairi looked at Roxas's hair for a second before speaking. "You have a hair fetish, Roxas? Oh my god, how come I didn't know that before? That's only a little creepy."_

_Roxas slowly inched towards Kairi so that she didn't notice he was moving until he was in front of her. He put his mouth next to her ear, and grinned, "Now, what's a little creepy, Kairi?"_

_She shrieked and fell on Roxas's bed. "That! That's what's creepy!"_

_Things just got wilder and they started taking some of Roxas's multiple pillows and throwing them at each other, accusing each other of stealing the other's underwear and such. Roxas said that while over at Kairi's house, Sora had stolen one of Kairi's bras and wore it when she was doing something else and pranced around. Sora became indignant and denied it. Kairi went ballistic and starting screaming at Sora, teling him that people weren't supposed to look through girl's clothing when they weren't looking._

_All the while Roxas had to sit down, he was laughing so hard. He couldn't breathe and slowly slid down the light beige wall, struggling for breath. _

_Time went by much too quickly, and no one noticed that the sun was slipping down the sky until it became dark enough to see the first stars. Roxas never had the chance to ask them what they were doing earlier. He'd ask later. First, it was time to eat, and Kairi had to go home to her own household and eat with her family for dinner._

_They said their goodbyes and I'll see you laters, just like any other summer day. The boys went inside to munch on whatever it was the cook was making that night._

_All ready for bed, Roxas scrolled on his computer, looking for nothing in particular and just wasting time. He chatted online with some friends who were somewhere on vacation. Finally, his eyes became tired enough for him to consider going to bed. He walked over to it and flopped down. Sometimes being in the bed was lonely, since it was only himself and his tens of pillows. _

_As a younger child, he and his brother used to sleep together to take away the loneliness at night in such a big house. So many rooms that weren't filled… Just them and their parents most of the time. Of course, being 17-turning-18, it wasn't right to sleep together anymore. _

_They had a reputation to live up to. They couldn't let any gossipy news about them tarnish it. A reputation – being part of such a high level of power came with responsibility. Everyone expected everything out of them, but they were normal people. Normal kids with lives. But they had to be more. They always had to act like they were the higher-ups of the state, sort of like officials._

_Though, in a way, they were. They were the two sons of the governor and his wife. Such an important name to live up to, and one day, one of them had to take his place as governor. It was like the royal family passing down the throne, but not as intense, and in this day and time, it was only expected out of tradition to pass on the power to a younger family member. It wasn't law. _

_But what else would they do with so much pressure of everyone who lived in the area? Either Roxas or Sora had to bend. Or maybe, both of them could take the role, together. Because they were always together. And even if the both of them could take the title, one would look to the other for support and help. _

_And if Roxas had to choose one of the worst parts of it, it wasn't being forced to take part in politics, it was being so well known. The brothers definitely weren't bad-looking, and they got love confessions thrown at them all the time. It was annoying, really. A nuisance._

_But that's why he liked Kairi so much. And Namine. They weren't like crazy fans looking to get laid by cute guys who had the power to get them anything, they were just good friends. Sora and Roxas didn't have to pretend in front of them, or hide. They could be true to their own nature._

_Roxas huffed. He was getting all cheesy and crap. Trust his tired thoughts to do that to him. _

_He turned and looked out the window. Whoops, he forgot to pull the curtains closed. Some creep paparazzi would probably take a picture of his sleeping face and title the picture "The Famous Angel." _

_He sighed, almost inaudibly, and pushed his covers away, forced himself to get up, and walked to the large window. Deciding to pull up a chair, he looked at the sky. _

_The stars – where were they? Only the brightest ones were there, blotting out the others in their brilliance. And there weren't very many. Maybe five, at the most. Those five stars holding their own, because they knew they could. _

_Lost in his thoughts, the boy didn't notice he was opening one of his glass sliding doors to the balcony outside his room and walking outside. A breeze ruffled his blonde hair, whispering something that he couldn't understand. It was almost like a dream, almost. He wondered what it was trying to tell him, if it was saying anything at all. _

_The cool air woke him up a little more, so he listened harder, stilling his chest and slowing his breathing. He closed his eyes, relaxing and straining his ears at the same time. _

Traitor…

_His eyes snapped open, eyes hurting as they dilated, trying to adjust to the dark night. Traitor? Had he heard wrong? _

_He shook his hair and turned to his right, about to go back inside, finally convinced that he was tired and he should go to bed. A flash of movement caught his eye, and he noticed Sora, also outside on his own balcony, two rooms over. "Goodnight, Sora," he called. _

_Sora snapped out of his dreamlike-gaze, seeming lost in nice thoughts. He merely smiled gently and turned back, eyes glazing over again. _

_Roxas walked inside and shut the door behind him. He heard a voice on the other side of his door leading to the hallway, asking if he was all right and if he needed anything. A maid. He gave his usual reply and slipped under his covers again. _

_That night, his nightmares started up again._

_Those awful dreams. Dreams of torture, being alone, alone in the center of the universe. Just floating there, in blackness, nothing to look forward to, nothing to want, only fear filling him up to the brim. Spilling over. The emotions took him in, didn't even bother spitting him out. He was on fire. Or was it so cold he just couldn't feel his body, felt like he was burning? _

_And there it was. His only hope, appearing in the midst of the bleakness, a key to the door that would lead him out of there. Out of his mind. But he couldn't move from his spot. He continued to burn and scream, but no one was there—_

_He woke with a start, shaking all over, a sheen of sweat apparent on his face, making his clothes stick to him. It was still early in the morning, because it was still dark outside. _

_The next thing he noticed was Sora, almost straddling his hips, still ready to hold Roxas's thrashing body down, to soothe his heartbeat, to give him the comfort he desperately needed. Worry was engraved into his eyes, those eyes that were darting everywhere._

_"Roxas? It's okay, it's okay, just a nightmare. Only a dream. You're awake. This is reality. I'm here for you."_

_He just kept shaking, tears beginning to fill his eyes and spill over, one by one, and Sora layed down next to him, arms wrapped around his shoulders and tucked under his head. _

_"…Was it the same one? The one you used to have?"_

_Roxas looked at him with vulnerable eyes and slowly nodded once. _

_"Don't worry, Roxas. You're not alone. I'll always be here for you._

" _You'll never be alone."_

* * *

I'm so proud of myself! I motivated myself enough to spend a couple of hours working on this chapter, right before I go on vacation.

So now there's a little more plot, right? Even though this chapter was kind of boring. I wanted to establish more of who Roxas is. And I needed to finish this chapter and couldn't make it longer, because 1) I didn't know what to say next, really, and 2) I need to go to bed so I don't fall asleep at the airport tomorrow and miss my flight. I hate waking up early. ;A;

So thanks to some of you reviewers, I have some idea of what's going to happen. But still not much, lol. So if you have any ideas, feel free to speak up.

Please review! It motivates me more.

Haha, I just realized I began to tie in the story to the name!


	4. Nobody

Be here… Be there… No one was anywhere, not for him. Roxas was alone, so alone, even though everyone else had told him otherwise, had calmed his fears and nightmares, insisted they would be there, always.

Liars. Such outrageous lies… they weren't there for him. He had to get through this _torture_ as they probably pranced around, thinking Roxas was taking an unannounced trip, like he sometimes had to do. Except he always called when he arrived wherever he traveled to.

This time, there were no phone calls, no words of comfort to tell his brother and friends where he was. He wasn't even sure if there was a phone here, because it was so dark all the time in the room he was constantly in.

What did insanity feel like? Roxas had a feeling that he might have been slipping in the direction of craziness. His eyes darted around constantly even though the mask prevented him from seeing, his body shook and trembled whenever he heard a sound, no matter how small the sound was. His thoughts turned darker by the hour, hopes of getting out becoming slimmer and slimmer every time those gloved hands roamed his body, forcing him to do the things he wouldn't have ever imagined.

His innocence was almost completely drained. His hope was the only thing that kept his mind whole, but even it beginning to wear at the edges, ready to fall to pieces at any moment.

Tears fell almost every time he woke, every time he fell asleep, every time he was invaded. So many drops were released throughout the day, Roxas was almost surprised he didn't shrivel up and crumble into sand.

Axel seemed concerned, but Roxas was becoming number every day anyway, so it didn't get through to him, his concern. The tears kept rolling down his cheeks, plopping on the floor one after the other, with a dull expression on his face and his eyes trained at the food he no longer wanted to eat.

He could hear Axel's voice, becoming persistent, panicked, telling him he had to live through it, he had to eat, had to survive, that he would be there.

_Be there._

Those two words always made Roxas's eyes flick up, and he would start giggling softly. Axel would always have to shake Roxas, to try to bring him back to reality, that horrible reality that he didn't want to live and wanted to get away from so badly.

His laughing would turn to sobs, and he remembered over and over those words that Sora spoke so many times, when Roxas was still alive. Because he couldn't call this living, this imprisonment of his body and mind. The roll of film would play, flashbacks of black and white. Sora, Kairi, Namine, his parents, his room, all the insignificant girls who confessed their love to him. Everything and everyone always flashed in front of his eyes, some scenes repeating, others fleeting but important to the previous Roxas all the same.

Once every two days or so, Axel would ask Roxas permission to bathe him. Roxas never refused; he was too numb to care anymore, and Axel had already seem him undressed, so what did it matter?

He would be taken, still masked, down a hallway to a shower. The mask would be taken off, and he would be seated on a stool, knees together, eyes unseeing as usual, and he would let Axel lather shampoo into his hair and wash it out, and clean the rest of him. The water was lukewarm, not as warm as Roxas was used to, but thankfully not ice cold either. He would close his eyes and let Axel finish up.

Usually, as he was being bathed, Axel would talk a bit to try to make Roxas, obviously so emotionally hurt, less tense.

Time was still hard to discern, it being dark all the time and all, but Roxas knew he had lived through another two days when he heard Axel kneel down beside him and ask, "Hey kid, wanna get cleaned up?"

Roxas nodded a couple of times and listened to the whisper of leather as Axel came closer and made sure the mask was secure, letting in as little light as possible. According to Axel, he did this so if they encountered anyone in the hallways he wouldn't get busted and replaced, and so the bright lights wouldn't harm his retinas.

His eyes flickered and his ears set back as he heard the loud clanking of chains as one by one the weight on his limbs disappeared, leaving an odd sensation of being lighter. He figured it was the work of muscle memory. Finally free, he stood up and stretched his stiff muscles for a minute before Axel retrieved a black and white checkered robe and guided his arms through the sleeves before tying it around his waist. Roxas smiled slightly as he remembered Axel telling him all the trouble he went through to get him one, knowing Roxas was partial to checkered things.

He was still smiling wanly when the red head went behind him and put on handcuffs again and tugged to make sure they were secure. "Stay put. I'll be right back. Gotta get the taser. Just for looks, you know."

Roxas stood still and waited for his friend to come back (he considered Axel one, seeing as his previous ones weren't doing anything to help Roxas's current state) with the offending object.

When he came back, Axel roughly grabbed Roxas's forearm, turned him towards the exit, punched in a code to unlock the door, and led him outside.

Roxas's first thought was that it was bright. It seemed that way, at least, from what he could tell. A little bit of brightness filtered through the sides of the mask and from the mouthpiece. He slowed down, shaking his head a little and closing his eyes. Axel tugged him roughly along the path that Roxas had almost memorized – left, left, right, left, right – and he came to an unexpected stop. The teen became confused as to why they had only turned left twice before stopping. Maybe he was being moved to a different shower?

And then, he heard a voice. It was a man's voice that he had never heard before and was unacquainted with. Roxas tried to imagine a body that would go along with it but didn't come up with anything that matched. He stopped trying to imagine what the person looked like and began listening to the words:

"Hey Axel, that the new kid the higher-ups are talkin' about lately?"

"Yeah, I'm taking him to get him cleaned up. You know, routine, every two days. Nothing new." Axel spoke casually, as though he and the stranger were equals.

"Didn't think he was so short. And a blondie, too. Anyway, I guess I'll let you two go do your thing. Every two days, huh. Mine are always every three days. Guess he got lucky." The man's voice got a little louder, and was close to Roxas's ear, before it faded away behind the boy.

Roxas frowned. Him, lucky? He couldn't think of anything possibly worse than the treatment that he got day after day. He instantly felt sorry for the prisoners the man was talking about. How anyone could live through torture worse than he got without totally breaking?

The teen was snapped out of his thoughts as Axel began to pull him forward again. There were no more stops along the way.

Roxas knew they were nearing the door. They had just taken their last turn and slowed down a bit, knowing if he walked faster, he would run into Axel or the wall. The silence in the halls made every step sound louder, scarier, more pressing. There were little beeping sounds as Axel punched in his code and the door opened.

It was warmer in this room, not stuffy, but with a hint of moisture hanging in the air. Roxas idly wondered who else was bathed in this room. He normally would have been grossed out by the thought of sharing bathing space, but that was before. Before he stopped really caring.

Axel closed the door with a bang and several clicks were audible.

Usually, this was when Axel would take the boy's mask off, but it seemed he was lost in his thoughts, as he started to turn on the lights without removing the offending object.

He heard Axel turn around to face the door and began to reach for the adjustable lights. He always turned it on slowly, putting it up a notch every 20 seconds, before the bright light illuminated the clean room.

The hand paused in its travel to the light and came back with a whoosh of air to land on the back of Roxas's head, where the mask buckled together. He situated his hands in a way that it wouldn't let the boy's hair caught in his hands or the buckle he was undoing. Roxas stood patiently still, waiting for the moment he would be able to properly breathe and his face would be totally exposed to his surrounding environment.

When he felt the weight of the mask fall away, the first thing he did was stretch this neck, rolling his shoulders and neck a little before standing still again. A ticklish feeling of being about to sneeze snuck up on him, and he crinkled his nose, hoping the feeling would fade away. He hated sneezing without something to cover it up with, and since his hands were still tied, he couldn't do anything about it. The feeling went away after a few moments of scrunching his face and making funny expressions while Axel laughed lightly.

Roxas flicked his eyes up to look at Axel, and put on a little pout face that said, _Why are you laughing at me?_ He looked down pointedly at his arms tied behind his back and looked back up, straight into Axel's eyes. They were easy to spot, with their emerald green hue glinting in the darkness, even without much light.

Axel got the message, motioned with his hands to turn around, and pulled the blonde backwards gently, so he didn't fall over his feet. He sat down and started to work on the chains and rope that bound the kid's arms, and managed to free him in what felt like record time. Roxas brought up his hands to his face, but unable to see much in the dark, missed the red marks encircling his wrists and fingers. He wiggled his fingers in an exercise he was familiar with before moving his arms around to get better circulation. He didn't care if he looked stupid, doing exercises in the dark, even if he had issues with looking dumb in his past life. One, it was Axel, and two, he just didn't care about anything.

He flinched as he heard movement behind him before remembering that Axel always turned on the light at this time. He watched Axel walk past him and reach for the light again, this time actually making contact with the switch.

Light filled the room. There was just enough of it to give off a creepy glow, casting tons of shadows over the room. After a bit, it got lighter and lighter until it seemed as if there were many candles in the room, rather than it looking unearthly. There was a mirror level with Roxas's torso. Roxas supposed, basing his knowledge of his prison of the only two rooms he'd been in, that the owner liked looking at themselves. Or maybe the owner liked looking indirectly at the victim's face as they were abused, with every degree of pain written over their face. Or something.

The blonde looked at Axel, trying not to imagine what the other people went through, and instead busied himself with how Axel's hair looked in the varying shades of light. It was interesting. His hair was always beautiful.

Finally, after a couple of minutes, Axel sighed. Roxas looked up questioningly, and Axel rolled his eyes. "I wish they could make all these rooms have automatic light adjusters. It's kind of a pain to do this every time someone walks into a room. If you do it enough times, you know, it gets boring."

Roxas smiled slightly, cleared his throat, and said softly, "I always find it funny how you complain about almost everything."

Axel shrugged, still sliding up the light switch, and gave a crooked smile. "Well hey, at least I got someone to listen to my complaining. It's no fun to complain if no one's listening."

Roxas pointed his gaze towards the pristine floor, and wondered whether or not Axel had any friends here, and how he got here in the first place. After a few moments, he decided to voice his question.

Axel quirked an eyebrow. "Friends? The people here are all heartless bitches. Most of them killed off their families so no one could find out about this place. We have nobody. We are nobody in the outside world. That's how we got our name, you know."

Roxas was confused. "What name? I never heard you mention that you had a name."

Axel hesitated for a second, and said, "Roxas, look down and look closely at the floor. I know you hate kneeling and I know examining the bathroom floor doesn't sound like fun, but the floor's clean."

The boy was becoming more confused, but decided he trusted Axel enough that he wasn't going to become taken advantage of, and kneeled, his eyes a few inches away from the floor.

And that's when he finally noticed: What he had thought were gold patterns were actually intricately-woven words. He read the words aloud. _We are Nobody. And now, you are too. _

He looked up to see Axel gazing off into space with a sad expression deep in his eyes. He shook himself out of his trance, looked down at Roxas, and said, "Most of us who have come in contact with this place can't be freed. It's impossible to break off." He paused a little while longer, changed his attitude, and said a little more brightly, "We'd better start to work on getting you clean so no one gets suspicious, right? Can't have a reason for them to make it worse for you. You know what to do. You got it memorized, haven't you?"

Roxas nodded and raised himself so he sat on his knees. He relished in the gentle feeling of Axel's hands kneading his hair with shampoo. It smelled like coconut. "Hey, Axel?"

"Hmmmm?"

"How long have I been here?"

Axel's hands paused for a second before answering, "Three weeks, Roxas." Before he realized it, his arms were wrapping around Roxas's torso, pulling him close with his soapy hands. "You're surviving, kid. You can make it. And remember, I'm here for you, okay?" He released the blonde and silently reached for the showerhead, washing the suds out of his hair.

He didn't notice a tear streaking down Roxas's cheek, mingling with the rest of the warm water, and he didn't hear Roxas whisper, "Can I really, Axel?"

* * *

A/N: Sadly, some ideas I had from last chapter were forgotten as time went by. I'll have to either remember it or re-think of ideas. Yeah…. any ideas of what I might have been thinking? XD

I'm sorry I couldn't update… Well I probably could but… I didn't feel like writing. Sorry… School is taking my energy right out, so I comfort myself with reading other fanfictions and watching anime and the like. But maybe I'll be motivated again to write more. Who knows? I'm not saying I'll stop; it's just hard to open the document up and start typing.

As usual, I would love to beg for reviews and awesomeness, but that sounds too needy. But that's okay, since everyone's allowed to be selfish, right? …Right….? So please, review, review, review~!


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